Some recent developments in traffic flow theory

This paper attempts to give a qualitative assessment of some recent developments related to the continuum modeling of vehicular traffic flow. Our objectives are threefold: 1) to establish a unified view on the discussed theories; 2) to compare their predictions with available observations; and 3) to find out their limitations and postulate new research directions in traffic flow. Our discussion begins with a brief introduction on continuum traffic flow theories and ends with a note on further directions of research in this area.